Hold You Tight
by miss.SunFlower
Summary: A collection of Daine/Numair one-shots by yours truly, since, I've quite a few ideas. Will be all across the quartet and afterwards - platonic, romantic, and anywhere in between. Enjoy!
1. Experiment

Getting over 'Is That So Bad' being over I've needed more Daine/Numair fics. I have a dozen and a half ideas so here is my catch all home to my shorter stories

ENJOY!

Edit 5/1 - edited so that it says _tests_ and not _testes_. Those are very different things. XD

* * *

In all honesty, Daine had thought it was a good idea at the time. She was testing a theory she'd had. All she wanted to do was see if she could shift from one animal to another, rather than shift back into her human self in between.

And, contrary to her teacher's accusation, she _had_ done a couple trial runs. She shifted from one breed of dog to another, to another, then, with a bit more concentration shifted into a grey wolf. Once she knew she could do it when she was stationary, a new thought occurred to her; could she shift while running – while flying?

Daine was usually very logical and not at all prone to foolish ideas, but in the case of her magic that she was still growing into, every little idea fascinated her. When she'd first got the hang of how to shape-shift she would only return to her human form when she absolutely had to. Her magic was too new, too exciting for her to care all that much about consequences.

Which was what caused her to decide the best way to test her most recent theory was to shift while in the air. Starting as a starling she had attempted a shift into a sparrow mid-flight. However, her early shifts had drained her more than she had, in her excitement, realized. Mid-air, mid-shift she felt the magic give way. She turned human, and plummeted towards the horse meadow used by the riders.

She didn't know what her teacher had been doing in the area. Looking for her, probably; she _was_ due for lessons. All she knew was over the roaring in her ears as she fell she'd heard him yell her name, and instantly she was caught up in black sparkling magic that deposited her safely in the meadow, where she was instantly surrounded by ponies concerned for her well being.

Onua, who had heard Numair's shout, had run out to her. She gave Daine a horse blanket to cover herself with and returned to the barracks to get her some of her things to change. By that point Numair made it through the crowd of concerned animals to the student in question. Daine braced herself; she knew from experience her teacher was not going to be particularly happy with her.

* * *

"What in Mithros' name were you _doing_?" Numair demanded.

Daine wasn't accustomed to being yelled at. She found she didn't enjoy it. Her mother had scolded her numerous times as a child but it never involved her raising her voice. She'd never needed to – a stern tone was more than enough.

Still exhausted and a little shaky from her misadventure, she managed to answer, "It- I- it was an experiment."

"I see," he wasn't yelling anymore, but the cold tone he'd adopted was no better, "and you didn't think that I would perhaps like to be present or at least _aware_ of said experiments before you went throwing yourself out a window?"

Daine blushed, "It was going to be a surprise," he opened his mouth and she quickly added, "I knew what I was doing!"

"This is '_knowing what you were doing_'?"

"Yes!" She was beginning to lose her own temper now. She knew it had been stupid, and she knew it would have been much worse if Numair hadn't been there, but his response wasn't helping anything. She knew it was her fault, she didn't understand why he had to get so angry with her. "I know it's possible, I tested it earlier on, only I wore myself out and-"

"Daine, how many times do I have to tell you not tax yourself when you're tired? Someday I might not be nearby and if you don't learn how to judge your body's limits-!"

Had she been thinking more clearly, Daine would have seen that Numair was calming down. Had she let him finish the argument may have ended. Angry as she was, instead, she raised her voice over him; "I don't need you to always be around! I can get myself out of my own scrapes, you know!"

"I'll believe that when you stop behaving like a gods blest _child_!" he snapped.

Whatever angry retort Daine had for that died on her lips. Like any teenager, Daine despised being treated like a child, and liked even less being called one. Normally, Numair's words would have only made her angrier… if they had come from anyone else. But this was Numair. Numair, who had _never_ treated her like a child, who's opinion she valued more than nearly all of her new friends. He always respected her, trusted her, and she'd let him down. And it hurt her, more than she thought possible.

Numair had needed the words to get through to her, but as he watched their affect on his student he wished he hadn't said them. Her lower lip trembled as her eyes filled with tears. Before any could fall, she lifted her chin in a defiant glare and stormed away from him.

He sighed and let her go. He was still angry with her, but not nearly as much as he had been. She was just so reckless, so much more than any student he'd ever had. Then again, she was so much more powerful than anyone he'd ever taught. She could do so much, it made sense that she would lose herself in her own tests. He simply couldn't bear it if those experiments brought her life up short.

Onua had returned in time to see the girl run off. She came over to punch him in the arm, "Well, _that_ was well done."

He scowled at her, "So why did you let me say it? Usually you kick me until I'm silent or take her away from me until I'm not so _emotional_."

"Maybe I thought you could handle it this time."

"She could have _died_, Onua," he sighed, trying to keep from snapping at her and having two of his friend's furious with him.

"She was experimenting with her magic. Need I recount the number of times you nearly killed yourself doing the same?" She asked patiently.

Numair shook his head, anger fading even as he spoke, "That's different. That's me. I feel responsible for her, and she keeps putting herself in danger. If she were hurt I- I worry about her constantly. You know that."

His friend echoed his earlier sigh, but smiled, "Yes, _I_ know that, you idiot man. You might want to go tell _her._" She thrust the bundle of clothing at him, "She's probably in her rooms so she won't need these, but tell her I want the horse blanket back."

Numair nodded with a bit of resignation. Daine wasn't going to want to talk to him, he knew.

* * *

He knocked against the door to her room in the rider barracks. She had rooms in the palace, now, but during training season she moved back there. "Daine?" there was a pause, and he briefly wondered if she was there. Then there was an audible sniff, and he sighed. "Daine, Onua would like the horse blanket back."

A longer pause and then the door opened a crack, just large enough for the girl to hold out the blanket to him. Numair took it, and quickly stuck his foot in the door to keep it from being slammed once more.

"May I come in?" he asked, gently.

The door opened. Daine didn't meet his eyes and moved to her bed where she pretended to read her anatomy book in silence. Numair set the clothes Onua had brought on the end of the bed and tried to think of what to say to her.

She muttered something under her breath. "What was that?"

"Is reading safe enough?" she repeated, her voice hoarse.

He sighed again, moving to sit beside her. She wasn't yelling at him, but this meek Daine was almost worse. He hadn't seen her so shy and uncomfortable since they'd first met. "Daine-"

"I'm sorry," she burst out, still staring at the book. "I didn't mean to not listen or to be reckless. And I do need- I still need help with my magic."

All at once Numair remembered Daine at thirteen, telling him she wasn't good enough for that book, and Onua once telling him that Daine had confided to her that she still sometimes expected all the powerful people who had adopted her into their lives to come to their senses and leave her. After over two years, it appeared that fear was still there.

Numair took the book from her hands, in order to hold them both, waiting until she looked at him. Her eyes were rimmed with red, but she wasn't crying. "Daine," he said quietly, still unsure of what to say to her. "Magelet, do you remember how you felt when you first came to Tortall, when you first made friends here?" She nodded. "I was the same way, when _I_ first came here."

Now she looked back at him, a bit surprised. He grinned, having expected that reaction. "I didn't have any friends when I was younger, and in Carthak…" he stopped himself and continued, lighter, "I was baffled by how quickly I was welcomed here, by Alanna, and their majesties, like I know you were. But because of that, I'm very protective of the friends I have. If any of them were to be hurt, if _you_ were to be hurt… I don't like to think about it.

"So when you put yourself in danger, I'm terrified, and it causes me too lose my temper on occasion. That's not much of an excuse," he added, smiling sheepishly at her, "I shouldn't have called you a child, Daine, I know very well that you're not. In your place, I can't say I would have behaved any better – I also know how it feels to have magic different than most people, and I certainly understand testing it. But that's _me_, and _you're_ my best friend, you know?"

Daine nodded, mute, as a few tears escaped. She tried to smile back at him, to show that she understood, and whether it truly or showed or not, he smiled back. "C'mere," he said, pulling her into a hug, awkward with them both sitting as they were, but sweet enough.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, now feeling bad that she had made him worry about him. She understood though, she worried about him often, too, even when she knew full well that he could take care of himself. She didn't think she would be any happier to know he'd gotten himself hurt. "I won't do that again," she added.

Numair pulled back to look into her face, eyebrows raised, "Really?"

"What?"

"Your experiment," he paused, "What _were_ you testing, anyway?"

She wiped at her tears, "I wanted to see if I could change from one animal to another without changing back to myself in between. I can go from a dog to a wolf while I'm just sitting, but I wanted to see if I could do it while doing something, like flying." She blushed a little, "I was going to surprise you during lessons tonight."

The look on his face made her actually laugh; he looked so completely fascinated. "But you _can_ do it? And there were no ill effects?"

"None at all. I probably could have done the flying if I hadn't been so tired."

"Well then, as soon as you're up to it – unless, of course, you don't want to anymore. I understand that after your last experience you may not want to-"

"Of course I want to!"

He laughed, "Perhaps tomorrow, then. We'll conduct some proper experiments. What do you say, Magelet?"

She beamed and hugged him again. "Thank you, Numair." She felt almost dizzy with relief; Numair was the one person in her life who she truly felt understood her. Not just her magic, her entire self. "You're my best friend, too, you know?"

She felt him kiss the top of her head, before pulling out of the hug and standing. "I'll let you have a night off of lessons. You need your rest, and you're going to have a long day tomorrow."

"Thanks," she repeated, remembering that, aside from being emotionally exhausted, she was physically worn out, too.

"Sleep well, Magelet."

* * *

The next evening, Daine and her teacher and best friend spent several hours thoroughly testing her skills with shifting. She could shift from a skink to a fox to a turtle to a wolfhound without the slightest mishap, being sure to inform Numair when she felt herself grow tired. When he commended her for thinking of this all on her own, looking so awed by her, Daine decided this _had_ been a good idea after all.

* * *

THE END! I enjoyed writing this. It's hard to write Numair and Daine fighting, but so worth it too write the making up.

This will be the first of numerous ideas I've got, so stay tuned.


	2. Mine

Shorter, but sweet. Kind of a companion piece to my other D/N fic 'Rumors and Reputations'. Takes place during the same time - the summer before the events of Emperor Mage.

ENJOY!

* * *

It was a bewildered sort of frown that graced Numair Salmalin's face as he observed the horse meadow and training ground of the Queen's Riders. It wasn't quite a scowl, yet, but it wasn't far from it. It had been his intent to meet his student, and take her for lessons in the undine's clearing – as they did on occasion when the weather was particularly nice – and wasn't entirely pleased by the scene he walked in on.

The trainees had just finished and were heading toward the stables with their mounts en masse, save a youth who had stopped to talk to Daine. He left his own mounts to grazing, keeping all his attention on the girl. Even from what distance there was, Numair could read the boy's body language clear, as well as what his intent likely was and felt his frown deepen.

It wasn't uncommon for younger Rider trainees to flirt with his young student. It made some sense, of course; not only was she common born, she was smart, funny, and growing increasingly beautiful as she grew up. With each new batch of trainees there was always the one or two who were interested in their assistant hostler, at least until she, or one of the officers set them straight. She was not interested.

Which was why it truly bothered Numair to watch Daine's reaction to this boy's attentions. All but ignoring her own obligations, Daine lingered with him, leaning back against a fence and twirling a strand of her hair around a finger. Numair was certainly no stranger to a woman's body language, either, especially in flirting and knew how to tell when she was interested, and Daine certainly was. To see Daine being flirted with was something Numair was familiar with. Daine flirting back was entirely new.

"Well, isn't that something?" He wasn't sure how long Onua had been standing there, but he jumped all the same. She was grinning somewhat mischievously at the two teenagers. "I should probably break them up soon; he'll have more work and I suppose you're here for her lessons, but it's just too adorable."

"I thought Riders weren't allowed relationships." Numair remarked, trying to sound casual.

"They have to be single. That," she gestured to the pair, "is entirely within bounds. Oh, don't look like that," she added, noticing Numair's expression which had gone straight passed 'scowl' and progressed to outright glaring. "Daine knows the rule as well as you and I both. She knows what she's getting into."

He shook his head, seeming to need to articulate why it bothered him, "She's only-"

"Only fifteen?" Onua asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. "So is he. So are most first year trainees. Horse Lords, Numair, I shudder to think how you'll behave when she does take her first lover!"

Numair felt himself blush, not wanting to even imagine Daine taking a lover – no matter how far in the future that may be. She was his student, his little mage; so young still, so… innocent. He wanted her to stay that way. "That will be different. She's still only fifteen," he repeated, more to himself.

Onua looked both amused and wholly exasperated, "So you won't turn the poor lad into a tree, then?"

"That was one time!" He protested, having long grown tired of people mentioning it. She laughed, and he sighed, looking back at his student. "I can't help being protective of her, Onua. She's had more than enough pain in her life."

The K'mir sobered, "All the same, it's her life. I know she's important to you, but she's not… yours."

He blushed again at her phrasing, which sounded all too much like the many gossips of court who had he and Daine in the same bed within months of her arrival to Tortall. Their friends, of course, knew them well enough to know the truth. Or, at least, he thought so. "Onua, don't tell me you think-?"

"Of course not," she said tartly. "All the same, you've had the place as the single man in her life for some time now. She's yours in that she's your student, your – oh, what's that name you call her when you think none of us can hear?"

"Magelet," he supplied awkwardly.

Onua laughed. "Yes, that. I'll admit; it's cute. The point still stands. Besides, she isn't going to be your student forever, you know?"

"Of course I know," Numair said instantly, but as he did it hurt. Inexplicably it hurt for him to imagine a time in the coming future where Daine wouldn't be his student. He'd had students before her older and younger. Of course, it made sense that he would have more after her. But none of them would be his Daine.

His mind caught up with his thoughts following Onua's earlier comments and shook his head, quickly answering; "I don't see why I can't be concerned for her."

"Oh, you can. Just," she shook her head, "know you've got no part in that part of her life. I'm your friend, but I certainly don't need to know about that part of yours." He made a face and she nodded. "Exactly. I'm sorry, I'm not meaning to lecture you, but trust me, it's better from me than Daine after you scare any potential suitors away from her."

Numair laughed, a bit nervously, at that image. He was still uncomfortable about the idea of Daine having suitors, serious suitors, in a way he didn't really know how to phrase. Looking again at the horse meadow he saw that Daine and her rider… friend, had finally returned to their respective duties and held in a sigh.

* * *

Ouna left, telling Numair she'd let Daine know he was there. His student came out shortly after, looking particularly happy for reasons he didn't care to think about.

"Good day?" he asked dryly at the grin on her face.

She laughed a little, "I suppose. So what are we having lessons on today?" She was avoiding his implication, he knew, but let it drop, instead thinking of her question and his earlier conversation.

"To be honest, Magelet, there's not much more I need to teach you," he said, unsure where he was leading with this. "It's safe to say, at this point in your studies, you understand your magic much more than even I do."

She looked at him, her expression completely baffled. "So?"

"'So'?"

Daine laughed again, "So, you've been teaching me more than just Wild Magic for months now, silly. You know that. Have you run out of myths for me, or constellations?" She squinted at the few stars the had begun to appear in the early evening sky, "I've seen your books on stars; you can't tell me I know all of them."

Numair had, in fact, briefly forgotten that he had been teaching her an array of things outside of her own magic. It occurred to him that he had been prolonging her lessons for far longer than they should have been, continually thinking of new things to teach her - whether they were conductive to her magic studies or not. This might have bothered him if it had simultaneously occurred to him that she was clearly prolonging the lessons, herself. No more eager to lose him as a teacher than he was to lose her as his student. This knowledge wiped out any and all of the gloom from watching her with another young man, and he found himself grinning at her.

She beamed back at him. "Did you honestly forget that? Really, and you're supposed to be intelligent."

He laughed. "And you're supposed to be respectful," he said, trying to sound stern and failing miserably.

She punched his arm lightly. "Shut up and tell me about the stars, Numair."

And he did just that.

* * *

THE END! More platonic cuteness! I swear someday I'll right something more romantic with them. But they were such cute best friends.

Also Numair, you're jealous. Just admit it.


	3. Safety

Sorry it's been so long. It's not lack of inspiration as much as lack of time. College sucks. But I have a about 6 half-finished stories for this, so expect more over winter break!

Post Emperor Mage, Pre- Midwinter piece. Not a lot of stories in this time, probably because it's so brief. Still I enjoy it. On the ship home from Carthak.

ENJOY!

* * *

Daine didn't bother trying to sleep on the trip home from Carthak. She had slept for over three days after the whole ordeal, and thankfully the sleep had been so deep it was dreamless. It was the first night after that that she had had her first nightmare, and decided to avoid the whole pastime until she was home, and calmed down a great deal more.

While nightmares, true nightmares, weren't common for her, she wasn't all that surprised. Given the circumstances surrounding Carthak, and one person in particular.

Daine didn't fret often, nor did she care much for those who did. She found it pointless and distracting; she knew all of her friends were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. She would send a quick prayer in their direction and leave it at that, knowing that concentrating on what might happen would get absolutely nothing done. She treated all her friends in this way.

Except for Numair.

It wasn't entirely unfounded, of course. Numair was, after all, the most scatterbrained man she had ever met. She had seen him get serious when he needed to, when they were in dangerous situations, but it was all too easy to forget all that when she was reminding him that his rooms were coated with dust and he hadn't eaten all day. Black robe notwithstanding, he was a scholar first in her eyes, and a warrior second… if ever. And once she got the more detailed story of what had happened to him in Carthak she was even more protective of him, and concerned for his well being.

Therefor, she always worried about him. In Dunlath, when they'd been separated by Tristan's barrier, she'd been up to her eyeballs in troubles of her own and had still had enough space in her mind to worry about her teacher and if he would be alright if Tristan or his other mages found him. Her panic when she'd been separated from Numair when hit by raiders had been for his behalf and not her own. She found she didn't like not knowing where he was, or if he was all right.

And then Carthak had happened, and Daine had felt how it might feel to lose her best friend. She didn't like to think about that time, and even when she did she found she couldn't even remember much. It had been as though part of her had just shut down, unable to cope with Numair being gone. Dead. Unable to smile at her, tease her, teach her, be there for her. All her concentration had gone towards revenge, as her way of not thinking about what had actually happened. Had she ripped Ozrone apart in hyena shape, had she torn the Carthaki palace to the ground, it would not have been enough. Nothing would have been enough.

With all that added up, it made all the sense in the world that in the aftermath of these events she would be plagued by nightmares; a combination of what little Numair had told her of his time in captivity and her memory of Ozrone crushing the image of her friend in the Aviary making them horrifically realistic. It seemed the only way to avoid them was to keep from sleeping.

And so, the single night they would spend on the ship before reaching Tortall, she stood on deck at the railing, staring absently at the stars peaking through a partly clouded evening and trying not to think. Numair was safe, alive, in his cabin. She knew that. She would have felt better if she could see him, but she wasn't about to go wake him up just to soothe her childish fears.

A hand rested on a shoulder and she jumped. Turning, she met Numair's concerned gaze, as if her own thoughts had summoned him.

"Are you alright?" he asked her softly.

Daine was simply grateful to have him within her sight. "Why are you awake?"

"You're evading the question."

She sighed, trying to keep herself under control. "Couldn't sleep," she murmured. "Nightmares." Technically, she'd had no nightmares, but she knew if she had tried to sleep she certainly would have.

He looked understanding. As well he might, she supposed. She knew the whole experience had weighed heavily on him as well, perhaps even more so. Ozorne had hurt them both this time. "If they persist when we get home, feel free to talk to me."

She shook her head. "I don't want to bother you."

"Magelet," he said, with a touch of exasperation that made her want to smile. "It's not a bother if it helps you, I promise. I understand, and have been through it – if you need anyone to… what?" He asked to the expression on her face.

"It's not the captivity that I had the nightmares about. That was nothing."

"Daine," Numair said, warningly, clearly not believing her.

"It was nothing. I wasn't even in those cells, awake, for an hour. I understand why you're worried about that, but that wasn't what the nightmares were."

He looked ready to ask what the nightmares were when it dawned on him. Clearly he was tired, or it would have taken him so long to understand. "Oh, Daine." He moved to wrap an arm around her.

She shook her head, trying to fight the lump in her throat. "It's nothing-"

"It's not nothing, Daine. I should have told you about the simulacrum, and saved you from all this."

"You didn't tell anyone, except for Lindhall. I can't have expected you to tell me, nor could you have expected this to happen as it did." He sighed, looking unhappy, and she tried for a lighter tone that didn't fit the choked quality of her voice, "Besides, if I had known, Carthak would still have a palace, and probably Ozorne."

"It was more than that, you saw what happened in the aviary. I let Ozorne know that you were the best way to get to me. If I had kept my head and not reacted that way-"

"If I hadn't wandered off that morning you wouldn't have been worried and confronted him in the first place!" She realized she shouted when her voice broke, and further realized that through this conversation she had spectacularly failed at not thinking about the nightmares she'd had, and had begun to cry. Numair noticed as well, and wordlessly pulled her into a hug.

She didn't protest it, and felt herself relax as she hugged him back. Being able to feel his heartbeat relaxed some of her internal fears, and eased some of the strange tension she had been feeling between her and Numair since they had been in Carthak. His arms felt warm, and safe. They always did, she thought absently, trying to think of little else but the feeling of being held tight. It wasn't either of their faults, what had happened to them. Ozorne would have found a way to try and kill Numair, and her closeness to him was only one reason Ozorne had intended to keep her.

"Numair?" She asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"What do you think is going to happen now?"

He pulled away, looking at her thoughtfully. "I don't know, Magelet," he said, gently. "If we're lucky, nothing much. Kaddar will have a lot of work to do, getting Carthak in order, but hopefully that means we will no longer need to deal with them. There are still a fair number of Immortals loose, even if they are no longer being sent to attack us. I can see us spending much of our future still dealing with them."

She nodded. It was what they had been doing before Carthak. "Same old, same old," she said, summoning a smile.

"For us, it's positively boring," he replied, smiling back.

"Don't jinx it."

His smile broadened, and he laughed when she yawned. "You should really sleep, my dear."

Daine kept her smile but pulled out of the hug. "I'll sleep when we're home. I'll feel calmer then, when we have our usual routine back up. This will feel like the nightmare."

Numair's smile took on a bitter edge. "It was, rather, wasn't it?" He sighed, and looked out at the water. "I don't see myself sleeping for the rest of the night either. How about a lesson?" She brightened, more at the idea of him staying up with her than anything. It was rather contradictory. She hadn't wanted to bother him, but she didn't want him to go. "Now what have I told you about the creation of Immortals?"

She smiled, letting his voice, warm and gentle, soothe her for the night, fears and darkness put aside. He had that affect, always. She didn't know how she could ever be without him. Hopefully, she'd never have to find out.

* * *

This is definitely in the not quite platonic, not yet romantic area. They're both pretty far in love by now, but neither knows or acknowledges it.

Also I dunno how long the voyage across the Inland Sea takes, but I wanted there to be at least one night. So. yeah.


	4. Drabbles

I've been too busy to really write out another full chapter and, though I've no shortage of ideas a lot of them work so much better as short pieces. Mainly in form of head-canons I have about Daine and Numair's relationship.

I've collected a handful of those and given you four. If I think of more you shall receive them here later.

ENJOY!

* * *

**Marriage**

After Daine explained her misgivings regarding matrimony, a month or so into their relationship, and assuring the mage it had nothing to do with her own feelings for him, Numair never proposed again. In part because he respected her wishes and wanted to make sure she knew that. Also, he could tell Daine had meant it when she said she thought she might come around to the idea eventually, and Numair wasn't going to push her.

And indeed, many years later, when she fell pregnant in the middle of the Scanran War, Daine was the one to come to him with the suggestion that they wed before the child was born, to save her baby the stigma that came from being born out of wedlock.

Numair didn't protest.

* * *

**Innocence**

Contrary to popular belief, Daine was not a virgin when she and Numair became lovers. The Beltane before the Immortals war began Perin the clerk had taken her to bed. Frankly, she hadn't seen any reason not to. She was of age, and it was what she wanted at the time. It was the only thing he wanted from her, true, but it was really the only thing she wanted from him, too. The whole affair was a bit on the awkward side but nothing unenjoyable as far as she had been concerned.

She had never told Numair. Not for fear of what he might think, because she knew he would never judge her, especially not for something like that. She simply didn't think it was any of his business. It was only when Numair brought up his concerns about taking advantage of her innocence, _again_, that she finally told him, without thinking. There was much blushing on both parts, but the matter was dropped.

* * *

**Seduction**

The rumors, of course, didn't stop when they made their relationship public. It was less fun than speculating, but it certainly added fuel to a gossip's flame. Most of them were the same, but there were one or two Daine was particularly fond of.

One in particular cited Daine's '_demigoddess powers_' as somehow being used to seduce and ensnare the mage. Apparently that was the only reasonable explanation to how Numair Salmalín had stayed with one woman for as long as he had.

"I don't suppose it occurs to anyone that I _love_ you," was his only response when she had told him, having only just recovered from initially laughing. When she shook her head, grinning, and snuggled into bed beside him he decided there was some truth to that rumor. He was positively and blissfully ensnared.

* * *

**Actions**

When Daine first met Nealan of Queenscove in the palace stables it was clear that among all the things the page had heard about her, her having a lover was not one of them. Still not the best with people, Daine could think of no possible way to casually drop that into their conversation before the poor boy got his hopes up and made things horribly awkward. At least, until she saw Numair came to visit her and frowned at what he saw and inspiration struck. Bringing her conversation to a natural end she came over to her lover and without warning pulled him down to her and kissed him, passionately. Ending it, she informed him, a bit loudly, that she would be returning to _their_ rooms to wash up, and left with that.

It was impossible to tell which of the two men was more shocked.

* * *

There you are, just a bit of drabble-y fun to keep you occupied before I get another one-shot length chapter done!

Let me know what you think about them! Like I said, they're based off of my personal head canons for the pairing! :)


	5. Family

I finally finished the piece for this that I've been writing since christmas time! Sorry for the wait.

A little scene from early on in The Immortals war. Lots of Kitten talk here, but you get lots of emotion, too. Numair's consciously in love with Daine at this point, and her feelings are obviously there - although completely unnoticed by her.

* * *

Tkaa visited court often in the years after Daine had met him in Dunlath, much to the court's initial dismay. Daine was often avoided even more after his visits than before, as to be on speaking terms – friendly terms – with an immortal was something worth being frightened of. Kitten was accepted, being small and harmless as she was, but Tkaa was something else entirely.

While she was often unhappy with the idea of humans being afraid of her, Tkaa was her friend, and for that she would never be ashamed. Besides, her real friends enjoyed his company as much as she did. Numair, in particular, looked forward to talking with the basilisk – reminding her once again of how similar the two were. He was the only immortal who didn't talk down to Numair when the mage had questions, and seemed to be just as curious about human affairs as well. The two could spend hours conversing on subjects Daine couldn't follow without gaining a headache.

The other person – of a sort – that most anticipated Tkaa's visits to court, was Kitten herself. Tkaa was the only other creature in the realm that Kitten could truly communicate with. Daine tried, and was getting considerably better at, understanding what the dragonet wanted through her color and her sounds. All the same, it was always a relief when Tkaa could tell her exactly what her charge needed.

"Is she happy, with me?" Daine ventured in early spring after the barrier's collapse. The Immortals war, as folks had began to call it, was only just beginning and though Tkaa had begun to stay with she and Numair more permanently, seeing as his abilities would be needed frequently, there were more lulls in traveling than she knew there would be in the near future.

The four of them – Daine, Numair, Tkaa and Kitten – were in Numair's rooms in the palace, having only just returned from another mission. Already, they relished the brief time to relax, as they knew it wouldn't last. Numair, who had been looking out the window at the light rain that had been falling all day, not really seeing it, turned to look at his friend in mild surprise. Daine hadn't been that self-conscious in some time, and never about Kitten.

The basilisk had looked at her with the closest expression to surprise as she could read on his reptilian face. "I would not think, after three years, you would need to ask me that. If Skysong were unhappy, you would know."

"I know," Daine said with a sigh, looking at the baby dragon, sleeping on a nearby chair. "I just feel I've been dragging her constantly into battles and danger her whole life. I should be keeping her safe – and I try – but I can't always." She shook her head.

Tkaa was silent, looking, too, at his sleeping cousin. "It is very different from the upbringing she would have been given with her kin, but I believe she enjoys her life. She would find life in the Dragonlands quite dull, were she to return now." When Daine looked relieved, he added, "You are aware she refers to you as 'mama', are you not?"

Daine brightened considerably, "Does she? I know she's told you I'm her mother back at Dunlath but I wasn't sure-" She trailed off with a soft laugh. She'd never given much thought to being a mother, even to Kitten. But now, the idea of being Kitten's 'mama' pleased her more than she expected.

"She understands that you are only a foster mother to her, but she cares for you as a mother all the same." Daine positively glowed at this knowledge. After a brief pause, the basilisk turned to address Numair, "You ought to know she often refers to you as 'papa' as well."

The girl was tickled by this, and laughed, truly laughed for the first time in several days. Usually Numair would have been happy to hear her laugh, and anytime before Midwinter, the idea of being called Kitten's father would have pleased him and probably made him laugh as well. But since his feelings toward Daine had so changed, or, more accurately, such changes had come to his attention, the idea of having a… family with his young friend was far too close to his own desires for comfort.

Oblivious to these thoughts, and the blush he knew he sported, Daine grinned at him. "We have been something of a family to her, haven't we?"

He swallowed, trying to think of how to respond to that. So far, Daine hadn't appeared to notice that anything was bothering him, or that his feelings for her had in any way changed, but he wasn't sure how long that would last. He smiled at her. "I'm glad she thinks so," he said, truthfully. "Especially given that with her lifespan she will likely be- _your_ baby for all your life." Never mind how Kitten felt, calling her _their_ baby wasn't something Numair could do.

If Daine caught the slip up, she showed no sign and had no time to dwell on it as Tkaa reentered the conversation. "Indeed, Kitten will remain an infant much of your lifespan. Few mortals would wish for a situation like that, that responsibility. It is another reason I believe Kitten has it well in your care."

"I'm glad," Daine said, only a little more relieved. Knowing that Kitten would be a baby throughout her lifetime made her a bit nervous, no matter what Tkaa said. And made her more eager to keep the dragonet safe, and she knew very well that with the war surrounding them, things would be far from safe for sometime. She looked at Numair, again, "Maybe we should keep her in your tower until the war is done."

Her friend raised his eyebrows at her, "There are numerous reasons why that would not work, and you know it," he told her, sounding more amused than anything. "For one thing, you know that no amount of locks enchanted or otherwise would hold Kitten if she wanted out and I refuse to put a magic on her," Daine nodded. She wouldn't want that, either. "Nor do we know how long until the war ends, and I don't think it would make you or her any happier to be separated for such an indefinite amount of time. And if we're trying to keep those we care for away from harm, shall I lock _you_ up there while we're at it?"

Daine couldn't help but smile at that. Onua had once said something similar in response to her keeping those animals she cared for from endangering themselves, even when they had wanted to fight. Even as she saw the point she found she was more flattered by Numair telling her how much he cared for her, even if she already knew it. It was mutual, of course; if it were possible she would want to lock him away from danger, and yet she didn't think she would be able to face the coming battles without him at her side.

Numair turned to the window again, abruptly, as if embarrassed by his last statement. Daine didn't understand that; he'd said _far_ sillier things in regard to his protective attitude toward her. It was hardly new. She dropped it, and looked back at Tkaa. "I don't suppose you could persuade her to stay in Numair's tower?"

She didn't think the Basilisk could laugh, but the amusement in his voice was as close to laughter as she'd heard it. "I don't think the great gods could keep your Kitten where she did not wish to be, and although I can speak to her, persuasion would go no easier than to try and reason with a mortal infant."

Daine winced, "If you say so."

"Relax," the Immortal advised. "Have I not told you already how well you care for her? You will do well to keep her safe. You and her father," he added, with a nod to Numair, who smiled a somewhat strained smile back. He didn't look as happy with being Kitten's 'papa' as Daine would have expected. Perhaps he was just tired, she thought. She was, too, after all, and she knew it showed. And it was going to get worse before it got better.

"Tkaa is right, Magelet," Numair said, gently, noticing the weariness in her eyes. She was hardly sixteen, he thought, and already facing war. She shouldn't have to worry about being a mother as well. Her lips twitched into a small smile at her nickname. It had been a while since he'd last used it. "She'll be fine with us."

Daine gave up. Her own worries weren't put aside, not completely but she understood. And she would miss her Kitten terribly were they apart. As she and Kitten would miss Numair if they were separated from him, or as she knew Numair and Kitten would miss _her_. The three of them were meant to be a team, she thought. They were meant to be together. Like a family.

* * *

There you are! A little piece on the odd little family they make.

Also poor Numair's not having a good time here and Daine is completely oblivious as to why.


	6. Ache

So I've had this particular idea for AGES but never been really sure how to execute it.

I'm still not sure I executed it right, but I gave it my best.

Enjoy some platonic cuteness followed by Numair-Torture! My two favorite things in fics!

* * *

Daine's shoulders ached.

Well, to be completely honest, _every inch_ of her ached. But arms, back, and shoulders were the worst. Cramping almost unbearably no matter how she rubbed them. She hadn't shot that much in months, without pause. She was entirely out of arrows, and praying to every god Numair had taught her about that they didn't encounter more trouble heading back to Corus.

She and Numair had been dispatched to deal with a group of Spidrens, in the north, only to find the largest group of them she'd ever dealt with, twelve in all. The whole thing went well enough, but had them both thoroughly exhausted when making their camp on the return trip to the capital.

Dinner that night was quiet, as was cleanup. Daine continuously rubbed at her shoulders, trying to alleviate any of the aches she felt, without success.

"Are you alright?" Numair asked from across the fire.

"Just sore," she said. "I don't think I've shot this much since Pirate's Swoop." She dropped her hands with a sigh. "What I wouldn't give for a healer right now."

Numair grinned. "Sorry."

She laughed slightly. She did find it endless irony in the fact that her friend had the strongest gift in the realm and yet was unable to heal. She knew he hated it, no matter how he laughed it off, so she tried not to tease him.

He was silent for a moment, looking at her thoughtfully. "There are non-magical ways of dealing with muscle soreness. Massaging it has the same affect, roughly."

She perked up, "Doing what?"

"When your muscles cramp up the way yours have, massaging – applying pressure can help soothe it. It's not as immediate or simple as taking a healers' tonic, but when it's all you have it's certainly better than suffering through it."

"Yes, but I have been rubbing them. It's not doing much."

Numair shrugged, "Sometimes it's easier when someone else is the one doing it. I've helped Alanna out once or twice – being healed as often as she has she's developed a bit of a resistance to healing magic, especially for little pains. I'm apparently decent at it." He added, sounding somewhat bashful.

Daine hardly thought about it. Anything that promised to soothe her was worth it, and she known Numair for over a year now. She trusted him. "Alright. Do I need to do anything?"

He chuckled. "No, no. Just – relax. Like you're meditating."

She did as told, squaring her shoulders and sitting up straight as he moved to stand behind her. Vaguely she remembered their time in the Undine's clearing when he'd first shown her the magic she possessed. He rested hands on both her shoulders and paused for a moment.

"Let me know how it feels, alright? This is for you, and it does no good if I'm nowhere near where you're in pain." She nodded. He waited a moment longer, then pressed his fingers into her upper back.

She squeaked. It didn't hurt, per say, but the force behind his hands was more than she had expected. It wasn't a constant pressure though, the movement of his hands similar to kneading, like cats did with blankets, or her mother did with bread dough. It took a little getting used to but once she did… It _did_ feel good, she decided, squirming a little. "Can you – my neck?" She suggested after a moment. He shifted to massage the back of her neck in a similar way.

It felt even better. Her neck hadn't been as sore as her shoulders had but that didn't seem to matter. _I wish I could purr_, she thought absently, and made the happiest sounding hum possible to compensate.

Numair chuckled from behind her. "I take it this is helping?"

"_So_ much."

He continued for a little longer. Daine found, with her pain pushed aside, the motions were practically putting her to sleep. She yawned, and Numair echoed her shortly after.

"I think that's enough." Daine said. It had been more than enough, and had been the first time she had felt that relaxed in weeks. She didn't particularly want him to stop, but if he was tired she didn't want to keep him. She twisted, breaking his contact, and grinned up at him. "Thank you."

Numair smiled back, and ruffled her hair. "My pleasure, Magelet. I'm glad it helped."

"It did," Daine replied, rolling her shoulders and enjoying the lack of pain. There was a faint ache left in them, but nothing close to what she had felt before. They bid each other goodnight and that was the end of it.

* * *

In the months that followed, there were a number of occasions Daine and Numair were sent out alone on Immortals business. And, among those, occasions the girl would request her friend's services in massaging the ache out of shoulders worn from too much shooting, or riding, or just the aches of travel. She realized sometimes she would ask it of him when she wasn't really in that much pain, simply because she enjoyed the sensation. Thankfully, he never seemed to mind, but she tried to make sure to stop asking unless she absolutely _needed_ the relief.

* * *

It was late May – the Immortals War had been waging for just over two months with a ferocity that made it feel like much longer – and Daine and Numair were camped a short ways outside a fief the man was too tired to remember the name of. Looking across the fire, _staring_, really, he watched Daine pick at a supper he knew she didn't have the stomach to eat, and set it aside. She was too tired to notice his gaze, it appeared, but he firmly brought his attention back to the fire all the same.

The last two months had been hell for them both, and he knew Daine was exhausted. But he was emotionally exhausted on top of everything else, internally fighting against his own feelings for the sixteen-year-old since Midwinter. Perversely, he found he loved her _more_ with each day, no matter how he fought against it.

Love, itself, wasn't that much of a problem. Of course Numair loved her. She was his closest friend and had been for years at that point, she understood him in a way no one else did as he mutually understood her. They had been through so much together. There was no way he could _not_ love her. And in some platonic way he consoled himself in knowing she must care for him, as well. No, it was the more physical part of his feelings towards the girl that he struggled to reign in at all times.

"Numair?" Daine's voice drew him out of, well, brooding. Looking at her Numair saw touch of exasperation in her expression that made it clear that this was not the first time she had said his name.

"Sorry," he said, trying to sound normal. "What is it?"

She looked suddenly self-conscious. "Well, nothing really. It's nothing."

"_Daine_."

"Alright," she sighed. "I was wondering if you could maybe give me a massage? My shoulders are killing me… but if you're tired you don't have to-"

Numair blinked. He had forgotten that he had done that for her on a fairly regular basis in their early years of traveling together. She had always seemed to like it, and he simply liked making her happy. However, it had been a long time since she had last asked it of him – before Carthak, probably.

"Nonsense," he said, without thinking. "Of course I will." If he had been paying attention to her in more than simply pining he might have noticed she had been rubbing her shoulders frequently the last day or so. He should have noticed. He _was_ tired, of course, but he would not refuse her anything that soothed her. Frankly, he didn't think he could refuse her anything she asked of him. Besides, he had missed this as well.

Daine brightened considerably and straightened her shoulders. Stretching his own sore muscles of his own he stood and walked over to the girl. Behind her, he rested his hands on her shoulders.

Immediately after beginning Numair realized this had been a mistake. He'd conveniently forgotten in his exhaustion that he had been avoiding touching his friend, even in the most casual ways, for a very good reason. And this, this was far worse than any casual touch, kneading her shoulders as Daine shifted under his hands. Nuamir tried to focus on his hands, not on the girl he was touching so intimately. Not on the pleasure he was deriving from something that was meant to be so innocent.

Feeling he had to say something, just to defuse the tension in him Numair asked, "Is this alright?"

"You could be a little harder," Daine replied after a pause. "I'm not going to break." Numair realized for his own benefit he had been barely touching her. Taking a breath, he increased the pressure on her upper back.

She _moaned_, the sound causing his breath to stick in his throat and his blood to pound in his veins. Innocently, oblivious, she shifted again, making sighs of pleasure. At _his_ touch. He could distract himself all he wanted but Numair knew he would dream of that moan, those sighs, under very different circumstances.

He bore it as long as he could, trying to behave himself but in the end it was too much. Numair was too tired to trust his self-control and the things she was unwittingly doing to it made it all the more precarious. He released her shoulders, causing another groan – this time of distress – from the girl. "Sorry, Magelet," he said, his voice sounding stiff. "I can barely keep my eyes open, now."

She twisted around, looking apologetic. "Sorry. I told you, you didn't have to do this if you were too tired."

"And deny you some comfort? You deserved it." She deserved it from someone who didn't use it to fuel his own inappropriate fantasies. He rubbed his face.

Daine did smile then, completely unaware of what even that smile could do. "Thank you, Numair. It does help, but you're bad enough about taking care of yourself without putting me first."

He shook his head, returning to his side of the fire. Crawling into his bedroll, he summoned a grin for her, "That's why I have you." She laughed at that, moving to her own bedroll. He turned away from her, not about to watch her sleep on top of everything else of that night. "Goodnight, Daine."

* * *

I'm just. Just going to leave it there.

This was born out of my strong love of two things; Massages and Numair Torture. Hope you enjoyed!


	7. Speculation

Alternately titled - shipping

This was originally written as when Onua realizes that Numair's in love with Daine, and was entirely just her thoughts/narration but I needed some interaction with others. So, I remembered Tammy saying that all of Daine and Numair's friends knew they were in love long before they told them and the idea of Thayet, Buri and Onua having a proper girl-gossipy-conversation just came up.

Enjoy!

* * *

It was hard to tell who noticed it first, Onua or Buri.

Onua was the first to mention to Buri and the Queen as they ate after one Rider Practice in mid-march that Numair had been awfully quiet, and, if she didn't know the man, _depressed_ since Midwinter. Of course, she had placed it on the Barrier's collapse and the stress of impending war.

It was Buri who replied, "He's in love."

That was it, a matter of fact sentence. Onua opened her mouth to instantly refute it – this was _Numair_, he couldn't be in love – but Thayet beat her to it, "Be serious, Buri."

"I am," protested the woman, stretching her legs out under the table. "I know what's happening is serious but Numair doesn't get depressed when he's stressed; he gets angry. It's the only time he ever gets angry and the more useless he feels the angrier he gets. He doesn't sulk. Sulking is for _unrequited love,_" she drawled, seeming not at all sympathetic with the man's supposed plight.

Onua's thoughts were circling as her friend spoke; she'd known the man longer than most of his friends, and probably knew him best outside of Daine, obviously, and perhaps Alanna. Everything Buri had said was true about how Numair behaved in stressful situations. But _love_? Numair? It was true that much of Numair's reputation was colorful exaggeration on the part of the court gossips there was _some_ truth behind it. She had once told Daine as much.

"And just who would our mage be pining after?" Thayet asked dryly. "Last I'd heard he had his pick of just about any woman in court."

Buri looked thoughtful, clearly still working that part of it out for herself. "Not if she were married, or soon to be. Noblewomen, you know, aren't advised to fool around when they know they're having marriages arranged. That's not to say they don't, but they certainly can't do anything permanent with it."

_That didn't seem right,_ Onua thought. Well, she still wasn't quite over the idea of Numair possibly wanting anything permanent; all of his female friends had teased him about a fear of commitment for ages and he'd certainly never done anything to deny their claims. But more than that, now that she was thinking of it, Onua couldn't remember the last time Numair had been with anyone. He didn't exactly shout the affairs from the rooftop but after years of knowing the man she generally knew how to tell when he was entertaining someone. It must have been years. Certainly not since he had gone on the delegation to Carthak, possibly before. Most of his time, really since he'd met Daine had been spent with her.

That thought mixed with her thinking back to the rather disastrous Carthak trip brought Onua to a sudden memory.

* * *

It was only a week and a half since the delegation had returned from Carthak, and already the news of everything that had transpired across the inland sea had spread like a wildfire. Onua thought Daine might deserve some rest out of the public eye for some time, let some of the rumors and the strangeness wear off, but Daine had wanted to get back to working with the Riders a bit more before the snows set in, confiding to Onua that the work she was used to would make it easier to put everything behind her. She even went so far as to stay in her room in the Rider stables instead of the ones set up at the palace for her.

It had all been going very when until one evening, Onua was grooming some of the spare ponies as quietly as possible – Daine had gone to bed early, exhausted – when a cry erupted from the girl's room. Onua rushed to get to her, nearly stepping on a half dozen cats that had fled the bedroom in shock. Daine cried out again, the sound anguished. Onua opened the door to find the girl still in bed, squirming and still quite obviously asleep. While she knew Daine had had nightmares in the past, she had never experienced them and had no idea how to approach it. Numair had, though; he'd admitted it to her once. When Onua tried to wake the girl and she cried out the mage's name, Onua realized exactly what Daine's nightmare was about and it decided her.

Thankfully, Numair was nearby, he had been having lessons of a sort with a girl who was hardly a student anymore. When contacted, he all but ran to the room. He spared Onua little more than a nod before turning is attention to his friend.

"Daine," he said softly, kneeling before her bed and touching her shoulder. Like with Onua, she squirmed away from the touch, whimpering something. Shifting slightly, he moved his other arm around her back and hauled her into a sitting position. "Daine. Magelet, wake up. Wake up now."

Daine settled down and a moment later opened her eyes. Blinking a few more times she focused on Numair's face and her eyes filled. Silently Numair tightened his hold on her, pulling her tightly against him as she struggled to keep from crying.

There was nothing wrong with this scene, nothing inappropriate. He continued to hold her, murmuring to her softly. One hand stroked her back while the other was tangled in her hair. However, for the first time since Onua had known the two of them she felt as though she was intruding on something _very_ private and had the absurd desire to step into another room. Daine was as much her friend as she was Numair's, but Carthak had changed it, ever so slightly. The two of them had gone through something no one else had and it had left them with a relationship so subtly stronger that she never would have noticed until this moment.

Daine had fallen back to sleep but Numair remained around the stables for another hour just to be sure he wouldn't be needed later. The next day when Onua saw them it was clear both were pretending the entire incident hadn't happened and she knew better than to bring it up. She had put it out of her mind,

* * *

... Until just now. There had been something present that evening, when Numair had held his friend in his arms, something Onua hadn't been able to label until it was spelt out before her.

"He's in love with Daine," she stated, almost to herself.

Buri and the queen looked at her. Thayet opened her mouth than closed it, again. "Oh," she said, after a moments pause. "_Oh_."

Having collected herself, a slow smile appeared on Buri's face. "Oh, of _course_. It explains everything; he's always hated the rumors about him bedding the girl. He probably feels terrible having realized that he wants to. Although, really, there are noblewomen who marry into larger age gaps than that – some of the women that matchmaking mothers try to push on Raoul are Daine's age, he's told me."

"They have the excuse of an arrangement," Onua pointed out, "He would be hard pressed to make it look like anything other than taking advantage of his student, and it would appear he knows it."

"That explains his depression," Thayet agreed. "I thought he'd been avoiding her more than normal, too – prior to the festival I could count on one hand how many times I'd seen them apart. But, how do you suppose _she_ feels?"

Onua had been thinking about this, "She loves him – well, of course she does. I think she might be _in love_ with him, too, but she doesn't acknowledge it. At least, not yet. Until recently she was too young to really be considering a lover at all, let alone looking at Numair in that way. She's been with one of the clerks recently, I think, but it's like you said – Numair is the one she's always with and the one she would always come back to. I think, whether she sees it or not, it's there. She _did_ tear down a palace to avenge him," she added wryly. "I like to imagine she'd avenge any of our deaths but I doubt no one but Numair would have gotten it on that scale."

"And honestly," Thayet interjected, "I can't imagine her with anyone else, now that I think of it. So perhaps, assuming we all survive what's coming and Numair's obnoxious sense of propriety doesn't kill him, we'll get to see something happy happen this year."

Buri rolled her eyes, "Yes, we'll temper that against inevitable war – and you're assuming the war will be done within the year, too, and there's enough left for a wedding."

"That's a cheerful thought," Onua said, dryly. "Can't we keep on the topic of our friends and they're ridiculously complicated love lives?" Thayet laughed and Buri's dramatic cynicism cracked. She muttered something about war at least being _interesting_, but she grinned. And Onua reflected that whatever may or may not occur between her two close friends, it would be far from _boring_.

* * *

I have difficulty writing Buri but her one line about love/lovers being boring is what I was drawing from here. XD

Anyways yes, a proper group of shippers these three. and their ship became cannon, too! Lucky them!

I hope you enjoyed it :)


	8. Missing

I don't know what happened. I was at work. An idea came to me. And suddenly this happened.

It's mainly me playing around with the fact that Daine and Numair are very rarely separated and Numair's line in Lady Knight about how being away from her makes him feel like 'half of him is missing'. Just like, their first instances with that feelings - prior to romance.

Enjoy!

* * *

The summer after Daine's first adventure in Tortall, the siege of Pirate's Swoop, the girl decided to continue working with training the new riders and helping with their mounts, as well as archery training, as she had the summer before. The officers were glad of her return; while the animals at the palace were slowly but surely becoming more intelligent, the new batch of ponies that would be brought in from the north would certainly benefit from having the young mage girl there. Furthermore, she simply liked the work, the routine of it. It was a job she liked and one that suited her.

That summer she was still Numair's student. Since study on the damaged barrier between realms had gotten precisely nowhere in a year, it was easy for the mage to convince Their Majesties that he could come along with his student when the whole group left on their summer training camp. The pair split away for a brief period of time when Numair offered to take Daine to his tower, as she'd wanted him to do for months. The two spent a week or so on lessons there before rejoining the rider officers and trainees.

That fall was the Dunlath-rebellion-that-never-was. The winter and spring to follow was spent studying shape-shifting with Numair – something he could only teach her a limited amount of things on as he'd never known anyone with wild magic strong enough to shift with and Gift shape-changing was an entirely different process. He was learning as much from her at that point. All the same, as soon as she got the hang of flying, it was a wonderful pastime for them both, and something peaceful to do when not dealing with Immortals.

That caused difficulty that next summer; the Immortals attacks _were_ growing in frequency. The Riders and the Own were stretched thin trying to cover everywhere at once, and Daine's sensing ability could only do so much. When the Rider trainees prepared to leave for their summer training site Daine packed to go along. But the capitol couldn't bear losing both her _and_ Numair, should any trouble arise there.

"It's not as though she'll be alone," the King told Numair, perhaps for the fifth time. "All the officers; Thayet, Buri, Sarge, and Onua will be there. Not to mention the rest of the trainees. If you can't trust her to stay out of trouble alone, you can at least trust them to keep her in one piece."

Numair shook his head, "It isn't that I don't trust her, it's just-" he waved his hand vaguely. It was just that his Magelet had a habit of attracting trouble. Not that he did much to stop that. Still, "I would just feel better if I was there."

"I understand, Numair." Jon said, patiently. "But if nothing else the two of you might be more useful apart, at least for a time."

There was nothing he could say to that.

Daine didn't think much of this plan either. "It's not as though you need him as your teacher anymore, Daine." Onua told her, as they packed and loaded Mangle, preparing to leave in the morning. "In fact, I'm surprised the two of you are still claiming to have lessons at all."

Daine didn't bother telling Onua that Numair was teaching her about history and politics, about myths and stars and magic she'd never actually use and barely understood, or that she simply liked learning things and listening to his lectures. Instead she said, "It's not that. The King's been sending us out to deal with Immortals as a _team_ since Dunlath and I just feel-" she shrugged, waving the feeling away, having no words to put it into.

Onua gave her a couple more well meaning comments and helped her finish grooming Mangle. Daine left it there. She knew there was no changing the situation and she didn't want to complain to someone who had no say in it, either. Perhaps it wouldn't be so awful.

It was. At least as far as Numair was concerned. The last time Numair had been away from his student for any length of time over two days they had ended up separated by a magical barrier. That hadn't been one of his better memories and it kept coming back to him in this current situation. Being out of contact with her made him edgy in a way he never was with anyone else. He distracted himself with renewing his research on the barrier and it's many holes, but in the evenings he found himself waiting for his student to let herself into his rooms and ask him about his findings – or lack there of – or talk about her own time with the riders, or a question about Kitten. Her presence had become so natural in his life that he'd never noticed until it was missing.

Daine fared little better. While Numair's protective streak drove her mad, she found she worried often about him as well. What if, as everyone seemed to fear, Corus _did_ suffer an Immortal attack? At this distance she'd have no idea, no way to warn them. Numair was powerful, yes, but she'd known him well enough to know he didn't always remember to pace himself and might burn himself out if no one was around to be a voice of reason.

Which was ridiculous, because he had plenty of people at the palace – people who knew him even longer than she did. And while he was certainly distracted, he was still a grown man, strong and plenty smart. He hardly _needed_ her.

All of Daine's friends, of all species, caught on to the distracted attitude. No one needed to ask what was on her mind when she accidentally stabbed herself on a needle when working on leatherwork, or tried to meditate at odd times. Even Kitten would curl up next to her and make what sounded to Daine like reassuring sounds in the evenings.

"I'm not saying you're not worried, or that you've no right to be," Onua told her one night as trainees disappeared into tents and bedrolls. "I'll be the first to admit the man can get himself into trouble like no one else. But truthfully, Daine, I think you just miss him."

Daien opened her mouth but closed it again. This summer Onua had taken to teasing the girl about a – completely non-existent – crush on her older friend. But she didn't sound like she was teasing now. Still, "It's not like we've never been apart," she said, more to herself.

Onua raised an eyebrow. "Maybe for a day. Honestly, Daine, I can count on my hand the number of times you two are separated – not counting when you're working – and have several fingers left over. He's pretty much a constant presence in your life, and you in his. It's understandable, you two are a good team; it's why the King sends you out together, most of the time."

When put like that, Daine had never really thought about how much time they spent together. And she did feel _off_, not having him around. She didn't know what to do with that thought, as with it came the feeling that even though she spent just as much time with Onua and some of her other rider friends, she was fair sure she'd be able to part with them for a few months without this level of… strangeness in her.

It was something to mull over, if anything distracting her _more_ – which was irritating. Perhaps it was better to get used to what being away from her friend felt like, if Jon took a habit to separating them to deal with Immortals at different places at once. Daine couldn't be in a state of worry or mulishly pouting because he was elsewhere. She wondered if he was getting any work done, or if he was worrying about her consumed all his energy, too.

The summer training was uneventful, for the most part; no sieges, no rebellions. A small herd of unicorns, but the peaceful sort; perfect for Daine to teach the trainees how to tell the difference. She did a decent job, but felt she wasn't half so good at explanations as her teacher. After what felt like the longest journey yet, the trainees returned to Corus to find it, too, had survived a largely normal summer.

Numair found Daine brushing down the ponies of some of the washout trainees. She looked tired but content and while he'd already heard from Onua that the whole trip had been without any life threatening dangers he was still immensely happy to see her, whole and healthy.

"Welcome back."

She had heard him come in but had chose to wait until he spoke before turning. Two years in Corus and she still wasn't terribly good with people, and she felt oddly shy of him. She _had_ missed him, she realized, terribly. And there he was, and she didn't know what to say. "Happy to be back," she said, smiling. "You held the place down well, it seems."

He grinned. "There wasn't much needing to be held down. Truly, Magelet, it would seem there's only trouble when you're here to attract it."

Now she laughed, feeling more herself. "Hey, I'll have you know there was no trouble at all this time around! Not a single evil plan was uncovered!"

"That must have been refreshing."

"You have no idea."

They both simply grinned at each other, basking in the company they'd been deprived of. After moments thought, Numair closed the short distance between them, pulling her into a warm hug. Daine started, then relaxed, hugging him back. "Gods, I missed you, Daine." He said quietly, almost to himself. The words were surprisingly comforting. She'd had no idea how much better it felt to know that he might have felt just as lost without her presence as she had been without him.

"Missed you, too," she murmured against his shirt. She pulled away to smile past slightly misty eyes. "I really hope his majesty doesn't make a habit of splitting us up."

He cringed at the thought, "I hope so, too. I daresay after this he's realized I get very little done when I'm worried about you."

"You get very little work done no matter your mood. Did you do anything productive while I was away?"

He laughed, and shifted to keep one arm wrapped around her, guiding her back towards the palace. "Now see, that is _exactly_ why I need you around; that tone you get. It's impossible for me to _not_ get work done when you use that tone. I would need a sort of enchantment to record it s o I'd concentrate no matter where you were. Except it doesn't have quite the same affect without that _very stern_ look in your eye-" he trailed off.

"A simulacrum of me, perhaps?" Daine suggested dryly.

"Oh my dear Magelet, the most powerful mage in all of history could never make a copy that could possibly compare to you."

* * *

And it ended with dorky flirting by these two idiots who are totally and completely in love and unaware of it. Yes.

Hope you liked! :)


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